CINCINNATI—After 10 minutes of Big East basketball Tuesday night at Fifth Third Arena, Cincinnati and Villanova had scored 16 points.

Uh, that’s not 16 points each. That’s combined.

Cashmere Wright's injury has had a highly adverse effect on the Bearcats' offense. (AP Photo)

This has not been uncommon for the Bearcats in their home games to date. They scored 54 points against New Mexico, 52 against St. John’s, 60 against Notre Dame. Whatever it is that’s supposed to make playing at home easier in college basketball—shooting background, familiar surroundings, fan support—has not boosted the Cincinnati offense.

This would seem to make Friday night’s 9 p.m. ESPN game against No. 15 Georgetown (18-4, 8-3 Big East) all the more daunting for the Bearcats (19-6, 7-5).

It’s hard to win when you’re not scoring, and coach Mick Cronin contends it’s harder to score when you’re thinking about not scoring.

“Too many guys are worried about offense, worried about layups, worried about shooting it,” Cronin said after Cincinnati fought to a necessary 68-point outburst in beating Villanova. “You have to get lost in the game.

“You can’t play offense if you’re worried about missing.”

Cincinnati’s inside players—forward Justin Jackson, centers Cheikh Mbodj, David Nyarsuk and Kelvin Gaines—are not offensive targets. Altogether, they average only 13 points per game. The Bearcats must rely on transition baskets that have become too rare and jump shots that ceased to fall when point guard Cashmere Wright injured his knee last month at DePaul.

Since he has been hurt, Cincinnati has only once breached the 65-point mark in regulation. Before Wright went down, the Bearcats did it three times in their first five Big East games.

After missing one game following the injury, Wright has shot 8-of-41 on 3-pointers. Wright said after Tuesday’s win that he is feeling better, however, and his overall played showed that. Cronin added that he expected the last part of Wright’s game to round into shape would be his ability to be a factor on offense.

There have been complaints about Cincinnati’s lack of offensive dynamism, which has been costly in games that otherwise were winnable because of the team’s elite defense.